Page 41 - Spring 2015
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Too ill to drive?
Russia is not known for two things – tolerance and
good driving! And recently, those two national
deficits have collided in a new set of driving
regulations which effectively ban the whole
trans community from the road. It reads like
something from a spoof news site, and a lot of
people probably assumed that it was, but no, it
is true! The Russian Government have recently
been attempting to reverse the country’s poor
road safety record. And instead of looking at
the infrastructure, cracking down on drink
driving or improving the test, they have simply
decided to blacklist a whole clutch of mental
health disorders. Among such disorders
are ‘personality disorders’, which in Russia,
includes all definitions of trans.
Of course, there is little to fear from a transsexual driver. There is no
evidence at all that the trans community are in any way bad at driving and this is a blatant stunt on
behalf of the increasingly LGBT phobic Russian Government. However, it raises the fundamental
question of whether or not trans issues should be classified as a mental illness.
The trans community are divided on this issue and there are strong arguments for and against
the medicalization of trans issues. The latest issue of the mental health ‘bible’, the DSM-V, has
‘downgraded’ to a dysphoria, which means a ‘discontent’ with the gender assigned at birth. This
move took trans issues away from the ‘sexual disorders’ category. However, with any transition or
treatment, there is still a medical process involved and the World Health Organisation still classifies
transsexualism as a mental disorder.
Most peoples immediate reaction is that medicalising trans issues is opening the door to prejudice.
However, there are several reasons why many members of the medical and trans community would
rather keep gender issues as part of the medical field.
For a start, making transitioning and hormones a medical issue opens the door to insurance or, in this
country, NHS funding. But many also feel a certain sense of relief when they received a diagnosis
of gender dysphoria and a sense that it legitimises the condition. The medical services are often
very heavily involved in treatment as well. In the UK, the medical community aid with treatment,
both with acceptance, transition and now even delaying puberty for teenagers with gender identity
dysphoria.
However, some cite the de-medicalization of homosexuality as a good ‘test case’. Certainly, many issues
that trans persons face are actually from the society around them and not directly their condition. Does
making trans persons a medical case stop society in general from truly understanding the nature of
gender? Does it make being trans a ‘problem’ rather than a part of society?
Meanwhile in Russia, activists from across the world, including quite a few famous faces, have joined
in the call for the discriminatory law to be repealed. The trans community of Russia is small and also
subject to a great deal of prejudice and so it seems international pressure is vital in changing what is
clearly an unjustified act of prejudice.
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